2011 – Looking Back | 2012 – Looking Ahead

Was 2011 an interesting year? Ah! Everyone would have individual choices, for sure. Still, it would be interesting to look back at the events that were headlines to Greater Voice. And at the outset, let us begin with the picture below that really stands out –

While Vancouver city was burning following the riots post their team Canucks' disgraceful defeat in Stanley Cup, a young couple - Scott Jones and his girlfriend Alex Thomas were snapped kissing amidst the commotion.

Well, on a serious note India danced to the tunes of an ex-army man-turned anti-graft activist Anna Hazare who launched a super crusade against corruption in this giant South Asian nation while like-minded protesters overthrew entrenched autocracies around the world and also slammed excesses in the financial industry giving the slogan – Occupy Wall Street. And as dictators fell, the ‘PROTESTER’ was adjudged the PERSON OF THE YEAR by TIME magazine.

2011 will have special prominence in the hearts of millions of cricket lovers in India, as the country became World Champions after 28 long years. The Indian Grand Prix, the 17th race of the Formula one season was also big news. The year will also be remembered as the ‘year of Djokovic’ as Novak Djokovic, world No.1 male tennis player won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open Title.

In 2011 only, Nargis, a girl born in India’s Uttar Pradesh, was welcomed as the world’s seven billionth baby — an honour she shared with a girl child born in the Philippines and a boy in Russia. What a mark! And lo, this very year the last convoy of US soldiers pulled out of Iraq, ending nearly nine years of war that cost almost 4,500 American and tens of thousands of Iraqi lives, and left a country grappling with political uncertainty.

Well, Greater Voice expects that 2012 could prove even wilder ride than 2011 as it watches two persons carefully –

[1] Ai Weiwei — The man who worked on one of China’s most prominent symbols of modernity, the Olympic Birds Nest Stadium, and who himself became a symbol this year. After standing up to the Chinese government repeatedly online and with his art, the dissident Ai Weiwei was thrown in jail in April. Later charged with tax evasion, he was eventually released on bail in June with strict orders not to speak out. But he continues to inspire people to take a stand against the government and its human rights record.

[2] Aung San Suu Kyi — After years of wilting under house arrest, the 66-year-old democracy icon is again ascendent, this time as a broker between the West and a new wave of army-backed leaders trumpeting reforms. While her full transition into politics remains to be seen, Aung San Suu Kyi has already succeeded in prompting the US to reconsider its Burma policy.

And Greater Voice will also await the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange this 2012. Happy New Year.

good one Neeraj da…one interesting stuff which you may want to include in your diary…..’A country called “Samoans” ditches Dec 30th”…this was very interesting to me…you may like it!! “http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/30/friday-im-not-there-for-samoans-at-least-as-country-ditches-december-30th/”